Do you mean languages that were previously not written like most Northern Native American languages, those of sub-saharan Africa and the indigenous Australian languages? I ask this because most languages today that didn't have writing systems have adopted, normally Latin, writing systems due to missionary work and Bible translations.

Native: English (NW American)Advanced: Spanish Intermediate: French Beginning: Arabic (MSA/Egyptian) Some day: German

I'm referring to cultures (today) that have always and only had an oral language. No written language at all. An example of this would be of Chinese dialects. Different people groups speak entirely different languages, but there is no written form. Even the Chinese characters don't apply to the language. The language is completely oral. I was just wondering about some books I could read on such languages.

sil_lark wrote:An example of this would be of Chinese dialects. Different people groups speak entirely different languages, but there is no written form. Even the Chinese characters don't apply to the language. The language is completely oral.

I believe that most words in Chinese dialects do have written counterparts, but some are archaic characters and people do not know about it. Even that we have found them out now, people are not very interested in knowing and writing them, as no other people would understand. This leads to the invention of a way to write them using existing common characters. For example, the (correct) Cantonese word to describe a dangerous situation is 崖广, but most prefer 牙煙 as it matches the present sound and more people understand.

Can you recognise this character? 商Nope, it's not shāng. It is a 囧 with a hat which 囧ed its chin off!囧囧囧囧囧囧囧囧囧!

sil_lark wrote:I believe that most words in Chinese dialects do have written counterparts,

Most, but not all. There are dialects in China that have absolutely no written form. Zilch. Yes, it is required that Mandarin and characters be taught to the children, but the ethnic group's language throughout its history has always been oral. There is no known form of writing. Word of mouth is the most important tool for communicating.

Basically I'm just looking for books dealing with this sort of language, ie the kind of language that relies heavily upon oral communication.